Don’t make Gods out of players: Kapil Dev

Reiterating the concern of many young players loosing their place in the Indian side due to fame and money, former captain of the 1983 World Cup winning team Kapil Dev said that players should be treated as players and one should not worship them as “Gods.” “Don’t give them too much respect and don’t make Gods out of the players,” said Kapil Dev.

He also had a word of advice for young cricketers who are currently cementing their places in the side. He said that it was important for the youngsters to keep their heads on their shoulders rather than getting distracted with other issues. “Keep your feet on the ground and success will kiss it or if you remain in the air, you will vanish from the scene. Youngsters have the tendency to forget their aim after getting exposed to fame and loose their path,” he said.

On the ouster of the flamboyant left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh from the test side touring Sri Lanka, the former pacer blamed the latter for loosing his composure from the game and creating a situation for his exclusion. “It’s his (Yuvraj’s) fault at some point that he gave the opportunity to the board to drop him. But he should not loose heart with this and he has the talent and should learn from what has happened,” he added. Regarding the growing fitness problem and the breakdown among the Indian pacers, he said that he couldn’t do or say much about it as it was them who have to stay fit. “Every player is a professional and he should know that he has to stay fit.”

Speaking on not selecting Asian Cricketer of the year 2007 Sourav Ganguly and former skipper Rahul Dravid in the probable list for the forthcoming Champions Trophy slated to be played in Pakistan and growing the divide between the seniors and juniors in the team, he stated, “Every captain has a right to choose the team he wants. When Sourav was the captain he voiced for young players in his side so why can’t Dhoni.”

On the spate of news reports emerging from Pakistan regarding Indian cricketers partying on a beach in Karachi before the final match against the Islanders, he said, “As long as (partying) it doesn’t hamper your performance its fine.” He was however disappointed on the lack of cricketers coming out from the Mumbai circuit. “There is no room for playgrounds and facilities, there are only buildings coming up everywhere, where will the children play. I visited around 40-50 schools in Mumbai and found out that only five out of them had a playground for the children.”

He was happy that parents are encouraging their children to play cricket since the ICL and the IPL have become household names. “Aussies are born to play but here we are born to be a doctor, engineer and scientists but from the past two years parents are encouraging their children to play ICL and the IPL.” Getting nostalgic about the 1983 World Cup, he added, “We all thought that we were going on a paid holiday to England and only after we won some matches against the big team we realized that we could make it.”